Automatic lubricating device.



C. G. CUNNINGHAM.

AUTOMATIC LUBRICATING DEVICE. APPLICATION FILED JU Y 22. 1915.

1,181,438. Patented M3 2, 1916.

2 SHEETS-SHEET I.

@Zamw C. G. CUNNINGHAM.

AUTOMATIC LUBRICATING DEVICE.

APPLICATION FILED JULY 22.1915.

Patented May2, 1916.

2 SIIEETS-SHEET 2- CHARLES G. CUNNINGHAM, OF NEW YORK, N. Y.

AUTOMATIC LUBRICATING DEVICE.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented May 2, 1916.

Application filed July 22, 1915. Serial No. 41,322.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, Ci-rAnLns G. CUNNING- HAM, a citizen of the United States, residing at New York, in the county of Bronx, State of New York, have made a certain new and useful Invention in Automatic Lubricating Devices, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to lubricating devices for elevator guides, wearing surfaces of machinery, or other purposes.

The object of the invention is to provide a lubricating device which is simple in struc ture, economical to manufacture and efficient in operation.

A further object is to provide means which are simple and eflicient for supplying and controlling the supply of the lubricant to the guides or other surfaces to be lubricated.

A further object is to provide a device of the nature referred to wherein the swaying movement of an elevator car is employed to effect the supply of the lubricant to the elevator guides.

Other objects of the invention will appear more fully hereinafter.

The invention consists substantially in the construction, combination, location and relative arrangement of parts, all as will be more fully hereinafter set forth, as shown in the accompanying drawings, and finally pointed out in the appended claims.

Referring to the drawings :F1gure 1 1s a View in side elevation of an elevator guide lubricating device embodying the principles of my invention, showing the same applied in position for use, parts being broken off and parts in section. Fig. 2 is a similar v1ew showing a slightly modified arrangement for operating the pump. Fig. 3 is a detached detail view partly in side elevation and partly in vertical section, of the form of oil tank and pump shown in Fig. 2. Fig. 4 is a top plan view of the lubricating device shown in Fig. 1. Fig. 5 is a vertical section of the same on the line 5, 5, Fig. 4, looking in the direction of the arrows. Fig. 6 is a ver tical section on the line 6, 6, Fig. 5, looking in the direction of the arrows. Fig. 7 is a view in horizontal section on the line 7, 7, Fig. 5, looking in the direction of the arrows. Fig. 8 is a detached detail view in side elevation of the screw plug which 0011- trols the flow of lubricant. Fig. 9 is a View in transverse section of the same on the line 9, 9, Fig. 8. Fig. 10, is a view in central longitudinal section of the same.

The same part is designated by the same reference numeral wherever it occurs throughout the several views.

In the drawings 11 designates a surface, such for instance, as an elevator guide, which is to be automatically supplied with a lubricant, 12 is the shoe or other moving part which engages the surface or guide 11, and 13 is the moving part, such as an elevator car, which carries the shoe 12.

In its essential characteristics the lubricatin device consists of a tank 14, having a cham er 15 to contain the oil or other lubricant. This tank is carried by the shoe 12, being secured to the top end thereof by screws 16, as shown in Fig. 1 or to the rear vertical edge by screws 17, as shown in Fig. 2. The tank 14 is formed with a transverse pump chamber 18 at its lower end, in which reciprocates a plunger piston 19. This plunger piston is normally but yieldingly pressed outwardly by a spring 20. The pump chamber 18 communicates with the oil chamber 15, through an opening 21, which, if desired, may be controlled by a valve, such as a ball 22, which, as indicated by the arrow in Fig. 5, seats toward the oil chamber 15. Through the vertical wall, or an enlarged rib portion 23 thereof of the tank 14, is formed a duct or passage 24, which, if desired, may be controlled by a valve, such as a ball 25, which seats toward the pump chamber 18. This duct or passage communicates at its lower end with the pump chamber 18, and is interiorly threaded at its upper end to receive a screw plug 26. This screw plug is kerfed in one side thereof, as indicated at 27, and preferably at an incline to the longitudinal axis of said plug, as clearly shown in Figs. 8 and 10. At or near its upper end the wall of the duct 24 is provided at diametrically opposite points with perforations 28, 29, the latter opening into the oil tank 15, while the former delivers to a chamber in which is located suitable packing or oil absorbing ma terial such as felt or the like, as indicated at 30. This chamber in which the felt or packing material is carried is arranged to straddle the guide 11 or other surface to be lubricated, and said chamber is open at the sides thereof where presented to the surface to be lubricated so that the felt or other packing material operates in contact with said surface.

The operation of the lubricant supply and pump device is exceedingly simple. WVhen the pump plunger 19 is pushed into the chamber 18 against the action of spring 20, oil contained in said chamber 18 is forced up through the duct or passage 21, past the valve 25, where a valve is used, and is delivered through the longitudinal bore 31 of screw plug 26, and through the kerf 27 of said plug and the perforation 28, to the packing material 30 which absorbs the oil thus delivered and supplies and distributes the same to the surface of part 11 to be lubricated. By suitably turning the screw plug 26 to carry the kerf 27, thereof more or less into register with the opening 28 or 29, the amount of oil supplied at each actuation of the pump plunger to the packing material may be controlled and regulated. Where the kerf 27 is wholly or partly in communication with both openings 28, 29, any surplus oil supply drains back into the oil tank, the inclined relation of the kerf assisting in this respect. If the perforation or opening 29 is entirely closed to the kerf 27, all the oil supplied by the pump is delivered to the packing material 30, in which case should there be an excess of oil supply, the surplus is permitted to drain back into the oil chamber 15, through the channels 33, at the sides of the enlargement 23, and which are preferably inclined clownwardly from the chamber containing the packing material toward the oil chamber 15.

' When the pump plunger 19 moves outwardly again under the influence of spring 20, the valve 22, if one is employed, opens to admit a fresh supply of oil from the chamber 15, into the chamber 18.

In order to prevent the ball valve 25, from closing the duct 24, on the inward stroke of the pump plunger 19, by seating against the end of the screw plug 26, the

lower end of said plug is provided with a transverse slit 34:. The pump plunger 19 may be actuated in many different ways. A simple and efficient arrangement is shown wherein the swaying movement of the elevator car is employed for the purpose. To accomplish this result in one arrangement shown, as in Fig. 1, the shoe 12, which carries the oil tank is provided with a stem 35, which extends into a barrel 36, mounted upon the elevator car 13. A spring 37 bears at one end against the end wall of barrel 36, and at its other end against a collar 38, on the stem 35. By this arrangement the shoe is constantly pressed into engagement with the guide 11, while at the same time permitting the swaying movement of the elevator car which usually takes place in the operation of the car. Mounted upon the barrel 36, which, of course, moves with the car in its swaying movements, is a bracket 39, which is arranged to form an abutment for the outer end of the pump plunger 19. From this arrangement it will at once be seen that the pump plunger is automatically operated by the swaying movement of the car.

In Figs. 2 and 3, a slightly different arrangement for operating the plunger is shown. In this arrangement the pump plunger is presented toward and abuts against the guide rail 11. The shoe 12, however, is rigidly mounted on the car 13, and of course, par-takes of the swaying movement of the latter when in operation. This swaying movement causes the pump plunger 19 to press to a greater or less degree endwise against the guide 11, thereby effecting the pump actuation.

The oil tank and the chamber containing the felt pad 30, may be closed in any suitable or convenient manner to exclude dust, dirt, or the like. A top or cover is shown having a portion 40, to close the pad chamber, and a portion 41, to close the oil chamber, the latter being pivoted, as indicated at 42, to facilitate the refilling the oil tank.

A lubricating device such as above described is very simple in structure and operation, being actuated by the sway or side play of the car, as it travels up and down the elevator shaft. The surplus oil delivered to the felt pad returns to the oil tank. The amount of oil supplied may be easily regulated. The use of wicking to effect the supply of oil to the felt pad is eliminated and in place thereof a positive pump action is employed. The operation of the pump is noiseless, and the device may be adjusted to use any desired grade of oil. I have found, in practice, that a sway or side movement of the car of only one sixteenth of an inch is sufficient to operate the pump and in operation all elevator cars sway.

Having now set forth the objects and nature of my invention, and a structure embodying the principles thereof, what I claim as new and useful, and of my own invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, 1s,-

1. A lubricating device comprising a receptacle to contain oil, a pump chamber communicating with the receptacle, a chamber to receive a distributing pad, a duct communicating from the pump chamber to the pad chamber, a plunger operating in the pump chamber, and a drain connection between the pad chamber and oil receptacle.

2. A lubricating device comprising an oil receptacle, a pump chamber, a. valve controlled connection between said chamber and receptacle, a distributing pad, a valve controlled duct communicating between the pump chamber and the pad, and a plunger operating in said pump chamber.

3. A lubricatlng devlce comprising an oil receptacle, a pump chamber communicating therewith, a distributing pad, a duct having 1 openings respectively to the pad and receptacle, said duct communicating with the pump chamber, and a plunger operating in said pump chamber.

4. A lubricating device comprising an oil receptacle, a pump chamber communicating therewith, a distributing pad, a duct having openings respectively to the pad and receptacle, said duct communicating with the pump chamber, a screw plug having means to control said openings, and a plunger operating in said pump chamber.

5. A lubricating device comprising an oil receptacle, a pump chamber communicating therewith, a distributing pad, a duct having openings respectively to the pad and receptacle, said duct communicating with the pump chamber, a screw plug adjustable in said duct and having an inclined opening therethrough, and a plunger operating in said pump chamber.

6. A lubricating device comprising an oil receptacle, a pump chamber communicating therewith, a distributing pad, a duct having an opening to the pad, a drain channel from the pad to the oil chamber, and a plunger operating in said pump chamber.

7. The combination with an elevator car, and its guide, of an oil receptacle carried by the car, a lubricating pad carried thereby and engaging the guide, a pump chamber communicating with said receptacle, a duct delivering from the pump chamber to the lubricating pad, a plunger operating in said pump chamber, and means operated by the sway or side play of the car for actuating said plunger.

8. The combination with an elevator car, and its guide, of an oil receptacle carried by the car, a lubricating pad carried thereby and engaging the guide, a pump chamber communicating with said receptacle, a duct delivering from the pump chamber to the lubricating pad, a plunger operating in said pump chamber, a spring to move the plunger in one direction, the side play or sway of the car operating the plunger in the other direction.

9. The combination with an elevator car, and its guide, of an oil receptacle carried by the car, a lubricating pad carried thereby and engaging the guide, a pump chamber communicating with said receptacle, a duct delivering from the pump chamber to the lubricating pad, a plunger operating in said pump chamber, a bracket carried by the car and movable relative to the plunger when the car sways or moves sidewise, and ar ranged to engage said plunger and operate the same.

10. The combination with an elevator car and its guide, of a lubricating pump mounted on the car to lubricate the guide and operated by the swaying movement of the car.

11. The combination with an elevator car and its guide, of a wick in constant contact with said guide and means mounted on the car, and operated by the swaying movement thereof for supplying a lubricant to said wick.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand on this 19th day of July A. D. 1915.

CHARLES Gr. CUNNINGHAM.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. 0. 

